League Clubs Research Articles

The brand persona of a football manager – the case of Arsène Wenger

PurposeSport is an important economic activity, and understanding the role of teams and managers is necessary, yet managers – specifically their brand personas – have been the subject of limited research. The purpose of this research is to explore the brand persona of a football manager, using Arsène Wenger as a case.Design/methodology/approachDue to the exploratory nature of the study, qualitative methods were used to explore the brand-building activity. Media reports and images that centred on Arsène Wenger's words covering a three-year period were analysed. In total, 1364 articles and 23 images were analysed in NVivo, using both a priori and emergent codes.FindingsThe findings show the construction of the brand persona in three main dimensions pertinent to his role as a manager. The first is the performance in the managerial role in which Arsène Wenger is appointed, the second is associated with the person (including emotions and self-expression) and the third is the context (i.e. football) in which the manager operates.Research limitations/implicationsThe research focused on one manager while he was managing a premier league club and is limited to England.Practical implicationsWhile proposing a theoretical model, this study proposes football clubs understand a manager's persona in relation to the club's brand and the interactive effect. The support of the club on the persona is also indicated.Originality/valueFootball managers have received some research attention, but there has been no analysis of their brand personas. This study expands the understanding of the contribution of the manager to the club brand.

Developmental activities of professional male British rugby-league players versus controls

ABSTRACT Purpose:Many rugby league clubs rely on developing youth athletes into experts in adulthood. One factor that contributes to the attainment of expertise is the activities that athletes engage in across their development. Therefore, the developmental activities of professional male British rugby league players were compared to lesser-skilled players. Methods:Players who had progressed from youth academies to professional status, those who were released from youth academies, and those who had only played recreationally completed the Participation History Questionnaire. Results:During childhood, professional players accumulated significantly greater amounts of play compared to ex-academy and recreational players, as well as greater coach-led practice compared to ex-academy . During early adolescence, this pattern continued, whereas in late adolescence the professional and ex-academy players accumulated significantly greater amounts of coach-led practice compared to their recreational counterparts. Professional players accumulated more hours in rugby league up to 18 years of age compared to ex-academy players, with both groups accumulating more hours than recreational . The number of other sports engaged in was relatively low across development and did not discriminate between performance levels. Conclusion:Findings from this study may inform future practice of talent development systems within rugby league in Britain.

Predicting season ticket holder no-show behaviour: more nuanced evidence from Switzerland

ABSTRACT In this article, we contribute to the emerging literature on the potential determinants of football spectator no-show behaviour by analysing disaggregated data capturing season ticket holder (STH) behaviour outside the German market for the first time. Intriguingly, our empirical analysis of a unique panel dataset – containing distinct admission decisions made by 8,734 STHs of an established Swiss Super League club on 72 consecutive matchdays between 2013 and 2016 – suggests that the antecedents of such no-show behaviour might be contextual, despite some notable similarities across markets. For instance, although we observe a robust role of both a STH’s emerging no-show habits and his/her geographical distance to the stadium in predicting spectator no-show behaviour that is in line with previous research, we also note a more nuanced, i.e. non-linear, relationship between a STH’s age and the tendency to omit attendance on matchday. Here, using three-dimensional contour plots to represent potential interactions with age graphically, we also observe that STHs in the age cohort around 35 to 65 are more affected by barriers in the form of distance to the place of residence or temperature compared to people of retirement age, for whom there is a very robust pattern of habit.

Smart leadership and its relationship to decision-making for some handball coaches fromthe players' point of view

Search to identify the following:
 
 Learn about the relationship between learning to read some part-time football Premier League shots.
 
 The researcher used the descriptive approach using a survey study method and correlational relations, and the research community identified the players of some of the Iraqi Premier League. Their number is (154). - Al-Khaleej - Al-Raid - Sulaymaniyah - Al-Musayyib), then a sample of (56) aircraft was randomly selected from them, and they are club players (Army - Police - Karbala - Fatwa). I examined them with a smart leadership decision and after the results showed that: -
 
 Some coaches of the Iraqi Premier Handball League clubs enjoy a high level of intelligent leadership and decision-making.
 There is a direct correlation between smart leadership and decision-making.
 
 Therefore, the researcher recommends: -
 
 Developing the skills of coaches of the Iraqi Premier Handball League clubs and enhancing their skills and abilities by improving their abilities and skills in the field of emotional, rational and spiritual intelligence by involving them in training courses in which intelligence and its types represented by emotional, rational and spiritual intelligence are the main topic.
 
 • Adopting the IQ standard in selecting the trainer, and that coaches are changed according to specific time periods in order to inject new ideas and intelligences that work to develop and improve the team’s results

Predictors of well-being and burnout: the case of female professional footballers in the Netherlands

Background: Little is known about well-being and burnout in female professional soccer. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to delineate and predict these outcomes in female players in the Netherlands. Study design/setting: A cross-sectional study using validated self-report instruments assessed the basic emotional needs, work-life balance, coaching support and wellbeing/burnout in female professional football players. Materials and Methods: 67 players from across all nine Dutch Eredivisie league clubs completed a range of self-report measures. These assessed perceived coach autonomy support, work-life conflict, basic needs (for autonomy, competence and relatedness), subjective vitality and burnout on scales specific to elite athletes. Statistics/Results: These suggested that the environment in terms of coaching is broadly supportive for most individuals and is not leading to burnout and poor wellbeing across the sample. A minority of players were nevertheless identified to have significantly poor wellbeing and high levels of burnout. Conclusion: Consistent with basic need theory, poor wellbeing was predicted by several unmet needs, while burnout was predicted by both work-life conflict and unmet needs. There are clear implications that female professionals frequently experience high levels of work-life conflict

Sport psychology coaching to align individual and team performance

Learning outcomes Upon completion of the case discussion, students will be able to: identify the enablers of a mental skills coaching process and the broad outcomes as a result of a coaching intervention; understand the contributing factors towards creating greater psychological safety in a team and the impact this has on team performance; and identify positive leadership strategies to create an environment in which meaningful work and goal achievement increase engagement. Case overview/synopsis Leanne Redding was the mental skills coach for Maccabi, a professional league soccer club in Johannesburg, South Africa. Redding had worked with the club’s players using mental techniques, the ultimate aim being to improve performance. Redding’s work was based on the premise of trust, lived values, self-respect and reflection. She believed that a strengths-based approach grounded in sports psychology and aligned with mental contrasting enabled resilience. Her process of holding individual and team sessions helped with sustaining motivation, overcoming limiting fears and encouraging focus on the greater good of the team. The result was Maccabi’s promotion to the professional league of soccer. However, not all of her broad stakeholder group had bought into the value of sports psychology coaching. The case explores Redding’s process and her belief of the importance and buy-in from all players of the team values which should inform behaviour. The case concludes with Redding contemplating what she should do to gain greater acceptance from the rest of the coaching staff for her work. Complexity academic level This case can be used in graduate and postgraduate level courses such as an MBA, in management development programmes or in short executive education courses focusing on organisational behaviour, leadership and human capital development and sports management. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 7: Management Science.

Association of the British Athletic Muscle Injury Classification and anatomic location with return to full training and reinjury following hamstring injury in elite football

BackgroundThe relationship between hamstring muscle injuries (HMIs) that involve the intramuscular tendon and prolonged recovery time and increased reinjury rate remains unclear in elite footballers.ObjectiveTo determine the association of time...

Analisis Akurasi Model Altman Modifikasi (Z”-Score), Zmijewski, Ohlson, Springate dan Grover Untuk Memprediksi Financial Distress Klub Sepak Bola

This study aims to find an accurate financial difficulty prediction model in English Premier League football, and also to compare with previous research so as to obtain the results of a financial difficulty prediction model that can be used for all football clubs. The way to determine the sample to be examined is using purposive sampling technique with a population of 49 English premier league clubs from 1992-2018, so that the number of samples obtained is 37 samples and then grouped in the categories of financial distress and nonfinancial distress. The method for analyzing data uses the model's accuracy test by comparing the model's prediction results with financial distress and nonfinancial distress sample categories and considering the results of the type 1 and type 2 error levels of each model. Error level 1 results from the sum of prediction errors that are actually financial distress but the results of the prediction of the nonfinancial distress model and vice versa. The results show that the model that has the highest level of accuracy for predicting financial distress in English premier league soccer clubs is the Zmijewski model with an accuracy rate of 72%.
 Keywords: Financial Distress, Football Club, Accuracy Test, Error Rate

A bright spot for a small league: social media performance in a football league without a COVID-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT Research question Pull effects in attention from smaller leagues towards bigger leagues have been under discussion. Nevertheless, causal empirical evidence on such attention interception is non-existent, and the suspension of sport leagues during the COVID-19 lockdown provides a perfect context for examination. The purpose of this study is to test whether the fan interest towards smaller leagues suffers from the presence of bigger leagues. Research methods While COVID-19 suspended top professional football worldwide, the Belarus league remained active. We used daily follower statistics (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube) three month before, during, and three months after the lockdown. Since we have these statistics for Belarus clubs as well as for 847 lockdown-affected football clubs (48 first division leagues, N max = 142,139), we use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of the shock caused by the lockdown. Results and findings Results indicate an increase in social media attention (throughout all social media channels) for Belarus clubs after the worldwide lockdown. A decrease was then observed after the revitalization of worldwide professional football leagues. The growth rates slowed down to an almost before COVID-19 level after the restart of other leagues. Implications First, keeping a league open during a pandemic boosts consumer/fan attention, which may lead league organizers and club managers to maintain a league open longer than advised by national health authorities. Second, since bigger leagues seem to pull of attention from smaller leagues, they could compensate the smaller leagues (financially or non-financial) for the loss of fan interest.

Designing a Conceptual Framework for Innovation Capability Development in Iranian Football Premier League

Purpose: Innovation is a critical factor in the success of football clubs. The use of innovation in organizations leads to the development of competitive advantage and sustainability. Innovation is the source of competitive advantage in the public and non-profit sectors by improving efficiency and effectiveness. This article aimed to design a framework for developing innovation capability in Iranian Premier League Clubs.Methodology: The participants were 16 management and sports management professors. The sampling strategy was purposeful. To analyze the interviews, we used content analysis based on the Grounded Theory. Findings: We extracted seven elements base on the interviews. They included financial infrastructure resources, transformational leadership, strategic thinking, innovative marketing, human resources capacity, knowledge process, and institutional environment. The results showed that financial infrastructure resources as the tangible resources and institutional factors combined with a kind of transformational leadership and strategic thinking of board members in terms of innovation, innovative marketing, and effective use of knowledge could enable football clubs to innovate.Originality: The new capabilities of the Premier Football League clubs have been less discussed. In this study, we introduced the financial independence groundes, competitive advantage, value creation through innovation and supportive approaches of clubs in Iran.

Jsou pravidla finanční fair play spravedlivá a udržitelná? Případ anglické Premier League

The paper investigates whether the Financial Fair Play Regulations have contributed to a sus- tainable economic framework of club football while retaining equal opportunities for sport success. Mutual relations among economic strength of football clubs, their financial aggres-siveness in investments into squads and league results after the implementation of the FFP rules are assessed. Using a dataset of the English Premier League clubs over 2011-2017, empirical data reveal that the league is economically sustainable in the long run. However, profitability improves by increasing broadcasting revenue, and clubs' profits are driven by their ownership structure rather than FFP. Furthermore, we identify a statistically signifi-cant financial aggressiveness in spending on squads. A regulation aiming at securing sustain-able economic development may, thus, curtail sport competitiveness of smaller clubs and boost dominance of teams that are economically strong around the time of regulation launch.

The Aussie-FIT process evaluation: feasibility and acceptability of a weight loss intervention for men, delivered in Australian Football League settings

Objective This process evaluation aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Aussie-FIT, a group-based weight loss intervention for men with overweight and obesity in Australia. Design Process data and data collected from: (1) six-participant focus groups (n= 24), (2) coach interviews (n = 4), (3) audio recordings of Aussie-FIT sessions and (4) post-program participant surveys (n= 93) were analysed. Main Outcome Measures We explored the feasibility and acceptability of program setting and context, recruitment strategies, factors impacting implementation and mechanisms of impact. Results Recruitment via Australian Football League (AFL) clubs was highly effective; 426 men expressed interest within 3 days of advertising, 130 men took part. Program attendance was not consistently recorded by coaches. Coach interviews indicated a ‘core group of men’ participated in each session (typically 10–12 of 15 men). Program delivery proved feasible in the AFL context. Program acceptability and satisfaction were high. Internalisation of autonomous motives was identified as driving behaviour change. Behaviour change to support maintained weight loss was facilitated through habit formation, goal setting and effective management of multiple goals. Conclusion Aussie-FIT sets a blueprint for future weight loss interventions that utilise behaviour change strategies and principles of self-determined motivation to support men to lose weight. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12617000515392. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

With Crisis Comes Opportunity: Redesigning Performance Departments of Elite Sports Clubs for Life After a Global Pandemic.

The suspension of major sporting competitions due to the global COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial negative impact on the sporting industry. As such, a successful and sustainable return to sport will require extensive modifications to the current operations of sporting organizations. In this article we argue that methods from the realm of sociotechnical systems (STS) theory are highly suited for this purpose. The aim of the study was to use such methods to develop a model of an Australian Football League (AFL) club’s football department. The intention was to identify potential modifications to the club’s operations to support a return to competition following the COVID-19 crisis. Subject Matter Experts from an AFL club participated in three online workshops to develop Work Domain Analysis and Social Organization and Cooperation Analysis models. The results demonstrated the inherent complexity of an AFL football department via numerous interacting values, functions and processes influencing the goals of the system. Conflicts within the system were captured via the modeling and included pursing goals that may not fully reflect the state of the system, a lack of formal assessment of core values, overlapping functions and objects, and an overemphasis on specialized roles. The current analysis has highlighted potential areas for modification in the football department, and sports performance departments in general.

Football Spectator No-Show Behavior in Switzerland: Empirical Evidence From Season Ticket Holder Behavior

In this article, we contribute to the emerging literature on the potential determinants of football spectator no-show behavior by analyzing disaggregated data capturing season ticket holder (STH) behavior outside the German market for the first time. Intriguingly, our empirical analysis of a unique panel dataset – containing distinct admission decisions made by 8,734 STHs of an established Swiss Super League club on 72 consecutive matchdays between 2013 and 2016 – suggests that the antecedents of such no-show behavior might be contextual, despite some notable similarities across markets. For instance, although we observe a robust role of both a STH’s emerging no-show habits and his/her geographical distance to the stadium in predicting spectator no-show behavior that is in line with previous research, we also note a more nuanced, i.e., non-linear, relationship between a STH’s age and the tendency to omit attendance on matchday. Here, using three-dimensional contours plots to represent potential interactions with age graphically, we also observe that STHs in the age cohort around 35 to 65 are more affected by barriers in the form of distance to the place of residence or temperature compared to people of retirement age, for whom there is a very robust pattern of habit.

Soccer in the time of COVID-19: 1 year report from an Italian top league club, March 2020-February 2021.

We report the events of an Italian top league soccer club that took place in 1 year (from March 2020 to February 2021) at the time of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In early March 2020, just before sport competitions were called off due to the national lockdown in Italy, the team, which included 27 players and 26 staff at the time, faced a COVID-19 outbreak, with 16 confirmed and seven probable cases, including three staff members who had to be hospitalised. In May 2020, at the resumption of the training sessions, a high prevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G positivity (35/53, 66%) was detected among the members of the group. In the following months, sport activities were organised behind closed doors with stringent risk mitigation procedures in place. As of February 2021, only two new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were detected within the group, against more than 3500 nasopharyngeal swabs and 1000 serological tests.

Non-elite conceptions of Europe: Europe as reference frame in English football fan discussions

Discursive approaches to Europe usually focus on elite discourses and target a narrow political understanding of Europe. Against the backdrop of rising Euroscepticism and the known elite-mass divide on issues of European identity, it seems important to shift the focus toward non-elite discourses on Europe. Given that club football is largely Europeanised (player markets, continent-wide club competitions and broadcasting of matches), we analyse how fans of the English Premier League club Manchester United discursively construct ‘Europe’ in relation to their sport. Our main research question aims at identifying how identifications of fans have been unconsciously Europeanised in the wake of an ongoing Europeanisation of the game. We explore online discourses on rivalry, competition and player transfers in club football as these areas are strongly influenced by the interplay of national and European inclinations. Preliminary results of our qualitative content analysis demonstrate that Manchester United fans, inasmuch as their club ‘goes Europe’ on a frequent basis, have developed transnational perspectives on football. Distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are not predominantly based on nationality, even though they remain complex. However, European orientations (not the European Union as such) seem to play more of a prominent role than commonly assumed.

The professional contribution of chiropractors to Danish elite football clubs: a qualitative exploration of role and perceived value in an interprofessional service provision context

BackgroundInterprofessional team-based care has been widely adopted in elite level athletic health and performance practice. Chiropractors can claim some penetration as health care service providers in high level sport. However, their position as valued members of interprofessional health care teams, especially those built around traditional medical organisational structures, is unclear. This investigation sought to explore the perceived role and value of chiropractors as service providers in elite Danish football clubs.MethodsA comparative qualitative case study was conducted. Six Danish premiere league (Superliga) clubs were purposively sampled to compare and contrast instances where chiropractors were both present and absent from the health care team. Triangulated responses were solicited from healthcare coordinators, chiropractors and athletes within each club’s organization through semi-structured individual interviews. The audio-recorded responses were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using a framework approach.ResultsData were collected September and November 2019. A coding framework of 14 codes and 4 code families emerged, centering around the role of chiropractors, benefits of utilizing chiropractic care and facilitators and barriers to interprofessional practice. From this framework, three themes were abstracted, these being: “Broadening horizons”, “In-house preferred to take-away” and “Already covered, or even necessary?”ConclusionIn this practice context, chiropractors fill the role of musculoskeletal health care service providers. Their perceived value stems from additional expert disciplinary knowledge, improved diagnostic triage and increased treatment flexibility. However, where not utilized, the role of a spinal health expert is questioned and when acknowledged, is limited to that of a technician/therapist. It is unclear from this investigation whether chiropractors can claim core provider status. Further exploration of this interesting context of interprofessional practice is warranted.

Football transfer fee premiums and Europe's big five

AbstractThis article studies the transfer market for international football players. Analyzing a sample of 5,760 player transfers over 14 years, we provide evidence that clubs in English football pay larger transfer fee premiums compared to clubs in the top leagues of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. While the popular press often mentions the English premiums, we empirically demonstrate both their existence and their causal source. Using annual data, we show that the dramatic increase in English premiums is causally linked to the 2012 television contracts the EPL signed with domestic and international broadcasters. These findings have policy implications for the clubs, players, and governing bodies of European football, as well as indirect consequences for export‐oriented football clubs.

Scanning, Contextual Factors, and Association With Performance in English Premier League Footballers: An Investigation Across a Season.

Scanning in football (soccer) denotes an active head movement where a player’s face is temporarily directed away from the ball to gather information in preparation for subsequently engaging with the ball. The aim of this study was to learn more about the ways that 27 elite professional football players in an English Premier League club use scanning in competitive matches, the conditions under which this behavior is exhibited, and the relationships between these behaviors and performance. Players were filmed across 21 matches, producing a total number of 9,574 individual ball possessions for analysis. Close-up video analyses of scanning show positional differences (with central midfielders and central defenders scanning most frequently, forwards least) and contextual differences (with relatively lower scanning frequency in situations with tight opponent pressure, in positions wide in the field and closer to the opponent’s goal, and under certain game state conditions). Players scan more frequently prior to giving passes than when they dribble, shoot, or only receive it, as well as prior to more long/forward passes compared to short/backward ones, although these differences are small. A Bayesian hierarchical model, which accounts for individual player differences and pass difficulty, suggests that the more a player scans, the higher the probability of completing a pass. In conclusion, match demands are likely to constrain the extent to which highly elite players scan, and scanning seems to have a small, but positive role in elite football players’ performance.

How Successful Are the Teams of the European Football Elite off the Field?-CSR Activities of the Premier League and the Primera División.

In the past two decades the sports sector has turned its attention to understanding the idea of sustainability, particularly to the practical steps related to this. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities carried out by teams playing in the Premier League and the Primera División in the 2018/2019 season, and how these CSR actions serve environmental protection and society, manifesting the concept of sustainable development. We applied comparative analysis based on secondary databases. We examined the available reports regarding all the 40 teams, focusing on information about their CSR aspirations and related academic research results, and we worked out specific criteria to evaluate environmentally and socially related CSR activities. Arsenal and Real Madrid were chosen to show good practices that can serve as examples for the other members of the sports sector. At Premier League clubs, the practical application of the CSR activities has been intensively developed. Clubs share detailed statistical information about their actions, while some of the clubs even publish their future plans. The quantity and detail of the information found with Primera División clubs is rather varied. Some clubs introduce their CSR activities in full detail; however, in the case of most clubs, the accessible information is rather superficial and lacks any exact descriptions. The findings clearly show that the sports world is consciously shifting towards the realization of sustainable development, which requires a comprehensive reconnection of sporting society and an increase in awareness in order to achieve the efficient and successful integration of CSR activities into sport.